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Rating: 
Summary: Academica, sex and murder
Review: ...This is a stunning book, and is probably the best debut novel i have read in many a moon. Tony Strong's actual writing ability is nothing short of excellent. his wonderful style kept me turning those pages as event followed event. The characters are compelling...not always because they are likeable, but because you just can't help but be fascinated by what's going to happen to them... the plot is great. It is tight, exciting, and intriguing. all through the book the motives arent clear, the reasons, and then, right at the end he hits you with the solution in a really brilliant climax. It's erotic...ok. deeply so, in parts. and i guess that if you dont like that kind of thing, then you probably shouldn't read it. but i found the analysis of all the letters really very interesting. the psyxhology of the novel is spot on, and all the way through Strong gives us little snippets of the analysis of the traditional deteective story, told by the heroine as she lectures on the subkect at university. It's all very interesting. he's packed lots of stuff into this book, and it makes for a really interesting, really chilling read. Right from the beginning i was drawn into the book by the eccentric characters and the extremely realistic portrayal of life in a university. Terry Williams is an interesting character, and her struggles with trying to get her life back on track after a divorce, and the confusion brought about by being unsure of her sexuality, makes for some more interesting reading. This is a very disturbing book, but it is extrememly (EXTREMELY) well written, with a cracker of a plot and an astoundingly assured debut novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Too Strong of a Poison
Review: I found a copy of this book in a used bookstore and the inside cover sounded terribly interesting. However, when I actually began reading this book, I could not go any further than 80 pages. Usually, a book has me as an audience by page 30, if it is written well and the characters are strong enough. True, Mr. Strong seems to have a good command of the literary ways, but not enough for me to finish this book.
The cannabalisitc cat did not do too well with me, either. As someone who loves animals, this just repulsed me. I know it is a work of fiction, but I think that should have been left out.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time!
Review: I picked this book up for a good vacation read as I like thrillers/mysteries. Although there were some good parts, as a whole this was one of the worst books I've read in a long time. The character were not well developed, I could have cared less about the whiny lead character by the end of the book, loose threads left hanging, etc. I read it until the end thinking it HAD to get better but with no luck. I could go on and on but the bottom line was that I actually threw the book away after reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic read...great new author to keep an eye on
Review: I read this book slightly out of turn (his second book 'The Death Pit' has the same main character) so I went into it already having an affection for the main character. Nonetheless, this book begins on an eerie note with a great murder, and leaves the reader suspended, constantly guessing and turning the pages. I think the characters are extremely well developed, and the book is paced very well. I never got ahead of the story in regards to figuring out whodunnit, which is rare. Tony Strong is a great author, and I recommend all his books. His last two are just coming out now in the states (I bought them in Canada because I couldnt wait to read them) and they are also both fantastic. I can't recommend his work enough.
His storytelling gives new life to the tired old mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic read...great new author to keep an eye on
Review: I read this book slightly out of turn (his second book 'The Death Pit' has the same main character) so I went into it already having an affection for the main character. Nonetheless, this book begins on an eerie note with a great murder, and leaves the reader suspended, constantly guessing and turning the pages. I think the characters are extremely well developed, and the book is paced very well. I never got ahead of the story in regards to figuring out whodunnit, which is rare. Tony Strong is a great author, and I recommend all his books. His last two are just coming out now in the states (I bought them in Canada because I couldnt wait to read them) and they are also both fantastic. I can't recommend his work enough.
His storytelling gives new life to the tired old mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: If there were an option for zero stars, I would have chosen it. I picked up this book from a remainder shelf at a local bookstore chain. I know, I know, my first mistake. What was painfully apparent in only the first five pages is that the book was horrendously edited. For example, the female protagonist is first spotted wearing a "tea dress" and Timberland boots, as she meets with two real estate professionals. Yet, in the same scene, she uses the bathroom of what we are led to believe will be her new home and struggles to pull her jeans over her hips after taking a contemplative dump! I gave it only about ten more pages of absolute crap (pun and vulgarity intended), including banal, and, ultimately, pointless sexual references and encounters. Hoorah for Tony Strong! He has the dubious honor of being the author of the first book I have ever thrown away. Folks, don't waste your time or your money.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly and disappointly awful
Review: The plot line of this book had such potential, which is what kept me reading past the first few chapters. I very much identified, however, with the main character's students, who were falling asleep during her lectures. The grotesque and the sexually explicit does not bother me very much when I am reading a good book. This was not a good book. It was oh-so-obvious that this was written by a man, and one who really doesn't know women at that. The most unnecessary part of the whole book was the epilogue. It added nothing to the storyline and leaves the reader with only negative feelings towards the book as a whole.
Rating: 
Summary: Impressive Debut.
Review: The posion Tree is a rather amazing debut and will turn on it's head all previous examples of murderous mayhem in an academic setting, which you may have experienced previously.
Solid plot-line and a good steady pace in storytelling. The characters aren't particularly likable, but hey - it is a murder mystery. Too much time is wasted making a fuss over the lead character's bi-sexuality, which has absolutely zip to do with anything. But maybe that was the author's way of trying to expand the books marketability. Whatever - Don't read this because the main character is confused and easy. Read it because it's a rip-roaring ride through the darker, twisted side of faculty and acadamia.
You'll be impressed and a little daunted by this author's first effort and you will most certainly look upon higher education with a jaundiced eye.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual literary thriller with lots of sex and violence
Review: Unlike the previous reviewer, I loved this book. Admittedly, the sex and violence are pretty strong stuff - the heroine, Terry, seems to spend as much time working out whether she's gay or straight as she does investigating the murder. But for me, her sexual ambivalence was nicely integrated into the plot, which ultimately turns out to be about sexual desires as well. It's also brilliantly written. Images leap out at you - on the first page "a light rain makes the street lights soft and hazy as dandelion clocks"; a page or two later the killer, having done the deed (with a soldering iron!) describes how "my head rolls slowly into the basket of my hands". But what really makes it is the central conceit: the heroine is a lecturer in detective fiction, and her lectures provide a weird & thought-provoking context for the murder she's investigating in real life. That said, there are times when the book irritates. It can't quite decide if it wants to be a serious literary psychodrama or a raunchy page-turning thriller. There probably is too much sex, and I found the frequent use of humour rather grating in what is otherwise a rather dark, gothic book. It might become a cult novel - certainly everyone I've loaned it to has had a strong reaction to it one way or another. I also rather liked the heroine. She's arrogant & aggressive, but next to her a lot of other mystery protagonists look insipid and bland.
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